Singapore — SME digital financing platform Funding Societies, also known as Modalku in Indonesia, alongside Southeast Asian automotive marketplace platform Carro, has announced its investment in Bank Index, an Indonesian national Bank. The move serves as a significant milestone in Funding Societies’ entry into the neobanking space and its drive to offer more high-impact digital financial services to underserved businesses in the region.
With a focus on SME Banking, Bank Index is a privately-owned national Bank with a strong nationwide footprint of 53 office network in major commercial areas across Jabodetabek, Java, Sumatra, Bali and Batam. Bank Index also conducts business across a range of commercial supply chains while offering mobile and internet banking services to its clients.
Kelvin Teo, co-founder and group CEO of Funding Societies | Modalku, said that their investment and partnership with Bank Index will support Funding Societies’ business strategy into neobanking. Teo adds that Bank Index shares the vision of empowering and developing SMEs.
“Since 2015, Funding Societies has been actively partnering with banks across the region, and our partnership with Bank Index will take FinTech-bank collaboration to the next level. Our complementary capabilities will enable us to serve SMEs better across banking, payments, lending and digital services to uplift Southeast Asia’s economies through small businesses,” Teo said.
On the co-investment, Jeremy Ong, CEO of CARRO Indonesia, said, “Bank Index’s plan for a sophisticated fintech industry, with a human touch at its core, aligns with our own vision of building capabilities and infrastructure that will serve customers across the automotive ecosystem — whether it’s buying, selling, SME financing, insurance or more. As such, co-investment was a natural choice. We strongly believe in the value of this partnership and are excited to be a part of this journey moving forward.”
Meanwhile, Gimin Sumalim, president director of Bank Index, added that they are delighted to welcome Funding Societies and Carro as shareholders of Bank Index.
“Together, we will partner to forge strategic initiatives based on our shared vision and mission, primarily to greatly expand our services to our target market. This collective step is also a reference point to continue pursuing comprehensive digital transformation.”